Hot Water + Polycarbonate Bottles = More Gender-Benders

We have been saying for a while that polycarbonates bottles can leach Bisphenol A, a gender bender chemical, and that it was time to ditch them; now a new University of Cincinnati study shows that the temperature of the liquid inside has the most impact on how much BPA is released.

According to Martin Mittelstaedt of the Globe and Mail, "Adding boiling water to polycarbonate plastic bottles causes a dramatic spike (55 times as much!) in the amount of bisphenol A, or BPA, leaching from containers into drinks, according to a U.S. research team.

The finding suggests that parents sterilizing polycarbonate baby bottles by heating them in water or in a microwave may be inadvertently increasing the amount of the estrogen-mimicking chemical leaching from the containers. It also indicates hikers who use the bottles as a thermos to store hot tea or liquids may be doing the same."

According to Science Daily, Scott Belcher, PhD, and his team found when the same new and used polycarbonate drinking bottles were exposed to boiling hot water, BPA, an environmental estrogen, was released 55 times more rapidly than before exposure to hot water.

"Inspired by questions from the climbing community, we went directly to tests based on how consumers use these plastic water bottles and showed that the only big difference in exposure levels revolved around liquid temperature: Bottles used for up to nine years released the same amount of BPA as new bottles." ::Science Daily

We have been saying for a while that polycarbonates bottles can leach Bisphenol A, a gender bender chemical, and that it was time to ditch them; now a new University of Cincinnati study shows that the temperature of the liquid inside has the most